Good News Eersterust: 2009 Winterschool Feedback

By Nicole Matthee, July 2009

From the 18th until the 27th of June, 2009, 25 of our students went on the Eersterust Winterskool mission at Prosperitus High School. The vision for the mission was to serve the school in Eersterust by teaching and tutoring their Grade 11 class for a week. We also aimed to serve and support the teachers as best we could through our interaction with the learners by teaching in areas of learning difficulty in each subject. We placed an emphasis on building relationships with not only the learners but the community too, and thus lived and slept on the school grounds for the duration of the mission.

A classroom called home ;)

It was humbling and life-changing for us as a team to see and experience how God used us in the lives of the 60 Grade 11 learners, as well as several teachers with whom we worked over the space of 10 days. What profoundly stood out and changed us as a team was the realisation that God really can use and wants to use us in significant ways to encourage, build-up and give hope to those less advantaged than ourselves. All He needs us to do is GO, He does the rest. No matter how little or insignificant you think your contribution is, God has a supernatural way of multiplying!

In turn we learnt so much from the learners as well as the broader Eersterust community, and look forward to sowing and building further into the relationships already formed.

Academic extra classes Film workshop

As a team we would specifically like to thank our Every Nation Pretoria spiritual family for all their support in the form of evening visits, lunches, financial support and all the prayers! We are truly blessed to be a part of a family that values and places emphasis on discipleship and missions. We had the opportunity to see and experience the difference it made and is making in the lives of the learners we got to know! A special thanks, to Trudie Eybers and the super team of connect groups who sponsored and organised lunch for the learners every day, as well as the winter jackets that Trudie organised for the children. Thanks also to Mark and Vicky Ashfield who served the teachers through running a Financial Literacy Course and providing tea and muffins for the teachers. And lastly to Johan Els, and his soccer academy who organised and ran a soccer program for the kids after school. We appreciate your efforts and initiatives very much!